Well, that went well. Surprisingly well, for me (and presumably for anyone else who knows how "well" I usually manage to organise things...)
The film itself was good, too. I felt there was just the one moment when it dragged -- the view of the guide in space was overly drawn out.
Martin Freeman was excellent as an updated Arthur, complete with mobile 'phone -- very much the same character, but placed firmly in the "modern day". The updating of Ford putting £5 ("keep the change" "what, from a fiver?") to £50 on the bar was good, too.
Before I saw the film, I was... well, I wasn't exactly worried about
Mos Def as Ford -- he was obviously a good choice, from the trailer I'd seen. However, I wasn't sure how it was going to work -- he's apparently a black American, and he's meant to be pretending to be from Guildford...? (I guess this Ford Prefect is more like a model T -- we can have any colour as long as he's black?) However, there was a nice one-liner to help us get over that, and his performance was even better than the trailer suggested. I particularly liked the defence-with-towel sequences (including looking ready to draw his towel at worrying moments).
Unlike jorune, I didn't feel that
Zaphod's heads were a problem. I certainly preferred the way they did it to the option of having two heads on one pair of shoulders. It was less distracting, also more surprising when his other head did things. His acting was also very good (I liked him in
Galaxy Quest, too) and nicely different for the two different heads.
Trillian looked right, unlike
Sandra Dickenson, the (wonderfully amusing) actress in the
TV series. I was surprised that Trillian was American again, since in
Don't Panic,
Douglas said that they would have had Dickenson use her "English Rose" accent if they'd known she could do one. But it worked really well (particularly as Deschanel's accent is quite easy to listen to, unlike Dickenson's...) She was also a credible actress, which probably helped... :-)
Naturally, they had to cut some things out for length -- the
locked filing cabinet (see page 10), sadly, had to go... Overall, I felt that the film was "right" -- each moment or scene looked like it had been crafted by
Douglas, but the film hung together on a plot which I actually felt was superior to any Hitchhiker's plot I've seen before. On the other hand, the content of the first
book/radio series (which is the material covered by the film, more-or-less) always did have more plot. It's obvious they've left it open for a sequel, in exactly the same way that the first book does, by finishing with "Let's have a bite to eat at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe"... I wonder if the plotfulness will continue.
Oh, and
John Malkovich is great as Humma Kavula, dressed (possibly unintentionally) to look like half of
half of a popular songwriting duo. We clapped at the end. Which was odd. On the other hand Douglas either can or can't hear us regardless of where we clap, now. Incidentally, staying for the credits was worth it.
I'm still not sure whether I'll go to the second viewing on Monday, since Monday nights are quite busy for me...
If anyone knows where to get knitted Marvins, please tell me.
